Efficient, Effective Government. Business & Organizational Efficiencies. Mission: To help county managers

Transcription

1 2011 Business Plan St. Louis County Employee Relations Department Efficient, Effective Government Business & Organizational Efficiencies Mission: To help county managers improve St. Louis County operations through the use of sound methods of human resources management consistent with merit and equal employment opportunity principles. Goal: To become an employer of choice so that we can recruit, develop and retain the best possible current and future workforce which has the skills and support needed to provide quality public services to the people of St. Louis County. To accomplish this goal, the employee relations system will be fair, consistent and adaptable, and the County, as an employer, will respect county employees, recognizing that they are county government s most valuable resource. The St. Louis County Employee Relations Department is responsible for helping the County Board, department heads, and supervisors manage the county workforce in the most efficient and effective ways. We do that through a number of service areas: Executive Leadership: We advise the Board on employment matters and propose policy & organizational changes that will ensure the county is in compliance with all federal & state employment laws and regulations, and will help the county manage its workforce more effectively & provide better customer service. Management Consultation & Research: We provide daily advice and consultation to department heads and line supervisors on such things as: employee selection; pre placement physicals; drug testing; organizational change; labor contract & grievance administration; interpretation & application of employment laws, rules, policies & procedures; training & development; benefits administration; classification & compensation; performance management; complaint & incident investigations; personnel transactions; workforce planning; and affirmative action & equal employment opportunity. Salary & Benefits Administration: We develop and administer the county s compensation & benefits programs, including negotiated pay ranges and wage increases, & administration of self insured health & dental plans. We ensure that county employees are paid equitably based on internal comparisons of job content & on appropriate market comparisons adjusted for geographic differences. We assign and reassign jobs to job classes based on job duties & responsibilities. We negotiate administrative fees with our insurance carriers. We manage the county s human resources information system (HRIS) & provide reports for workforce planning and other purposes. Recruitment, Assessment & Selection: We assist supervisors in filling positions by helping them identify appropriate job related qualifications, recruit applicants, and assess applicants qualifications. We develop & administer job related assessment methods and we maintain & refer to hiring supervisors lists of qualified candidates for employment. Labor Relations: We assist the county s labor attorney in negotiating 11 collective bargaining agreements and assist supervisors in correctly administering the provisions of those agreements. We assist supervisors in investigating allegations of employee misconduct, determining the appropriate discipline when needed, and handling grievances. We participate in planning & representing the county in grievance & interest arbitrations. Training & Development: Using a needs assessment model, we design and implement training & development programs for county employees on a variety of job related subjects and tools, including how to be better consumers of their health care. A new focus is on e learning (computer based training).

2 Trends & Issues Affecting Our Work External Internal ä The Economy: Not improving much & when it does, growth will be much slower than in the past. Negative impact on county finances will result in demands for greater productivity & more difficult collective bargaining ä Escalating health care costs & uncertainty about health care laws & regulations ä Younger workers predicted to be more mobile, resulting in more turnover ä Fewer younger workers available & competition for them will be significant ä Unfunded mandates from federal & state governments ä Increasingly complex employment laws ä Increased pressure for wage increases ä Continually being asked to do more with less ä Trying to work effectively under a 1941 civil service law ä Aging workforce ä Restrictive and/or inflexible union contract provisions ä Need for more "creative destruction" & more flexibility in how & when people work ä Attrition doesn't always occur in the right place Aging Baby Boomers

3 Major Issues & Recommended Solutions AGING WORKFORCE Our aging workforce is likely to be less willing or able to be flexible. They may hang on to old ways of working & old union contract provisions affecting wages, benefits & other terms & conditions of employment. Health insurance benefits will be especially important to these folks. Worst case scenario: They want to retire, but can't afford to they don't want to be in the workplace. Good news: These are experienced workers with a wealth of knowledge, skill & ability. We may need them! We have to invest in employee engagement strategies designed to keep these folks excited about work & challenged to help us "creatively destruct" the old ways & find innovative new ways. We have to explore new benefit sets, or go to cafeteria style plans, that allow employees to spend their benefit dollars on their priorities. The needs of different generations of workers are likely to be very different. INCREASINGLY COMPLEX EMPLOYMENT LAWS & REGULATIONS The ER Department is responsible for helping the county comply with these laws & regs, and they change on a regular basis. There are also new federal & state employment laws & regs being adoped all the time. ER Department staff have a tough time staying current on all these legal requirements. The same is more true for assistant county attorneys whose time is spread over a variety of types of laws. Supervisors need to know the basics about the most important laws, too. Employment complaints & lawsuits are on the rise. Things to Do: Invest in ongoing training for ER staff. Require supervisors to attend ER sponsored training on an annual basis. Contract with an outside law firm to represent the county in employment law matters. Could be just representation, but would be better if it included all employment law advice & consultation. Ask the Board to give the Administrator authority to settle employment complaints for amounts not to exceed $75,000 to help speed complaint resolution. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM An on going need. We still need to amend or repeal the 1941 SLC civil service law. We have a draft new law and associated rules ready for stakeholder review. The County Board needs to decide if it is a priority and, if so, what they are willing to do to get the SLC legislative delegation to support it. With or without the legislation changes, we will continue to changes our local rules, policies & procedures to improve our employment system and practices and keep pace with the county's changing needs.

4 Major Issues & Recommended Solutions, cont. HEALTH CARE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WORKFORCE PLANNING The ER Department is responsible for the dayto day administration of the group health plan and health promotions. Things to Do: Need to address and develop an implementation strategy for federal and state health care reform mandates starting in The mandates of health care reform are complex and sometimes ambiguous. The County needs to keep abreast of interpretations and clarifications issued by the Department of Health & Human Services and the IRS. Educate employees on coverage changes and how to select providers based on cost and quality considerations. Continue to develop and implement health promotions targeted to improve employee nutrition, activity levels, biometrics and reduce chronic illness. Incentivize employees to maintain healthy lifestyles and participate in the health promotions offered. Collective bargaining is going to be increasingly difficult as employees expect raises and no changes in their health insurance. The county will need to hold the line on costs plus look for more flexibility in how we do things. Things to Do: We need to discuss & plan our bargaining priorities for the & contracts. We need to plan for changes consistent with health care reform mandates. We need to start planning for the eventual retirement of our negotiator. The aging workforce is just one but very large aspect of workforce planning. We need to be doing more workforce planning on a regular basis. Things to Do: Update the county workforce plan that was done a few years ago. Provide training to managers & supervisors on how to do workforce planning. Provide regular workforce reports to managers & supervisors to help them plan. Engage the Board by helping them understand why workforce planning is important & how it can help them make county wide decisions.

5 Finance Plan - Employee Relations Department Statutory Responsibility of the County The ER Department is responsible for ensuring the County's compliance with a vast array of everchanging employment laws & regulations.* *See Appendix A for a list of some of these legal mandates. Efficient, Effective Government County Strategic Initiatives We are developing a new branding & recruitment strategy to include job specific recruitment videos. We are continuing to work on civil service reform by "creatively destructing" our old ways of doing business & actively looking for ways to innovate. We are staying on top of health care reform & working to keep our insurance programs effective from both a cost and a personal members' health perspective. We are developing a process to review on a regular basis (& update as needed) the content & compensation of all county jobs. There are several new policies we need to develop (e.g., criminal background checks) & many others that need to be updated. RFP for health plan administration. Department Priorities We are working with the Auditor's Office to explore the purchase of a new personnel/payroll system (HRIS). We hope to implement an electronic data management system, e.g., electronic personnel files. In preparation for that, we are updating our records retention schedule, scanning paper files, & eliminating paper wherever possible. We need a better way to prepare seniority rosters. The current program developed by MIS is cumbersome & only 1 person in MIS knows it. We are continuing to develop more online resources for supervisors & employees,... especially in training. Optional/Traditional We are continally looking for things we can stop doing. One thing we still need more discussion about is eliminating the dual entry of personnel transactions. We enter them into our personnel/payroll system & we record them on index cards. There are things we do that supervisors could be doing if trained & supported, e.g., keeping track of when their employees' performance appraisals are due.

6 Technology Plan Key Initiatives Mission, Goals, Vision We rely heavily on technology to deliver human resources services to managers, employees & applicants. The personnel/payroll system (HRIS) provides managers with web based self service access to employee job and leave balance information, provides employees with access to certain personnel, training and payroll records and the ER Department staff with a comprehensive information on jobs, positions, employees, budgeted fte complements and automates tracking of vital employee statistics. HRIS has become vital to the employee maintenance and reporting work performed by the department. The web based applicant management system has assisted the ER Department and the County in expanding its recruiting efforts in marketing the County brand to persons of protected class status. This has been achieved by providing an online system that is more accessible than the former paper application and easy to understand and use. The department has promoted the County employment brand on numerous webbased social media sites in addition to its own web site. Business Need HRIS technology supports the department business functions by providing for accurate automation of HR records and operating procedures, reporting, storing compensation and hours worked for bi weekly payroll processing, benefit enrollments, paying mandated taxes and garnishments, and many other critical HR/payroll functions. The ER Department website provides applicants and employees with immediate access to information on most County jobs, employment opportunities, benefit information and open enrollment forms. The intranet site provides managers and employees with access to administrative forms, training opportunities, labor contracts, and internal transfer and employment opportunities. Initiatives RFI for a new HRIS system: ER Department and Auditor s Office plan to explore alternative HRIS system options in Convert HRIS system from Vertex tax software to Symmetry tax software by year end High Line HRIS ep upgrade to (or ) software version if this version of software resolves issues with current version by mid High Line Time & Scheduling module development or MIS time sheet development depending on HRIS system direction. If stay with High Line, will begin Time & Scheduling module development. If move to a new HRIS system, may ask MIS to update the current online time sheet program. Time line for beginning work on this initiative is mid year 2011 and completion by yearend Develop a recruiting video to be presented on the St. Louis County web site by end of 1 st quarter Continue development of individual job specific recruiting video testimonials throughout 2011 and This will become an ongoing project. Update license arrangement with computerized testing vendor to offer web based employment testing for certain County jobs by yearend 2012.

7 Technology Plan Major ER Business Tools Business Needs Store personnel transactions and training records electronically and link to HRIS employee records. Current HRIS system has functionality to attach images to employee records. Complete and submit personnel record transaction forms electronically using approvals of the hiring authority (supervisor), manager(s), department head (designee), ER staff, etc. This functionality is available in the current HRIS system. Enhance employee access to ER Department communications by adding accounts for all employees, even if accessed via a kiosk. Another alternative is utilizing the HRIS self service bulletin board from a kiosk. Current ER Systems MIS developed program for maintaining certain records on former employees MIS developed program for seniority rosters MIS developed program for EEO compliance reporting Current Enterprise Systems High Line HRIS system is used by ER Department for daily maintenatince of jobs and positions, employee assignment records, attendance policies, leave banks, benefit plans, tracking statistics, FTE assignments, etc.; used by Auditor s Office for bi weekly payroll and special payroll processing, collecting and paying income taxes, collecting and paying benefit premiums, collecting court ordered garnishments, transmitting general ledger interface to Mitchell Humphrey financial system, etc.; Public Works time keepers hand key all hours worked for employees in their department including work orders, function codes, asset numbers and system generates interface file of project expenses to Public Works MRO asset accounting system; and High Line HRIS system is used by all employees and managers with self service access to retrieve personnel and payroll information. NEOGOV web based applicant management, requisition tracking and interview referral system. OrgPublisher org charting solution that creates Deprtment organization charts based on position reporting relationshipsdescribed in the HRIS system. The org charting output is displayed via both the Manager Self Service system and via the intranet. Current Software & Programs Opac computer testing software for applicant assessments Epi Suite Id card system and card printer Lectora online training MS Office Suite DYMO label software and label printer Web Based Tools High Line HRIS and Employee/Manager Self Service NEOGOV Lectora Dot Net Nuke

8 Technology Plan Training & Support Required Enterprise Systems High Line requires ongoing MIS resources in the areas of database administration and application server administration. Implementing the High Line Time & Scheduling module will require 2 weeks of vendor training for the implementation team. Implementing a different HRIS system will require considerable training resources and conversion support. ER Department Systems The MIS developed seniority reporting and compliance reporting have typically required ongoing routine maintenance by systems and programming staff. That is expected to continue into the future as long as such reports are developed by MIS and required by contract, rule, or statute. Website Routine training on current web development tools for specified web content managers. Ongoing routine training for users of the Employee/Manager Self Service module. If a new online time keeping solution is implemented, it will be necessary to train time controllers and end users. Technology Plan Resource Management Financial Resources Implementing High Line Time & Scheduling will cost an additional $17,500 for licensing and an estimated $10,500 for onsite training and troubleshooting assistance. Cost for an MIS developed time sheet solution has not been calculated. Cost of conversion to a new HRIS solution has not been calculated. Annual maintenance for the High Line HRIS system is approximately $40,000 per year. NEOGOV annual maintenance is $15,000 per year. Org Publisher annual maintenance is $3,000 per year. High Line, NEOGOV and Org Publisher are enterprise systems and paid from the MIS budget. Opac annual maintenance is $900 and paid from the Employee Relations Budget. Project Prioritization HRIS RFI/RFP. Time & scheduling solution. Routine maintenance on existing programs. Complete the MIS re write of the seniority reporting program. Analysis, Development & Support Resources A team will need to be convened to undertake the process of reviewing HRIS system alternatives and make a recommendation to either continue on the High Line platform or pursue a new HRIS vendor. Other systems do not require measureable development resources.

9 Other Employee Relations Department Plans Workforce Plan We work closely with other departments on their workforce planning. We have a plan for our department. We have a contract with ARC to provide them with human resources services. We anticipate entering into a similar arrangement with the Community Health Board. We are sharing a clerical position with the PHHS Department. Purchasing Plan We do not do any significant purchasing except for routine business needs such as office supplies, computer hardware & software, and furniture. We do not plan to make any changes in this area. Department Resources Space Plan We are working with Property Management for some remodeling of the main floor of our courthouse office. We are planning to increase the size of our conference room & make sure it has 2 exits. We have 23 employees: 5 in the GSC building (3 in Training & Wellness, 2 in PHHS), 1 at Public Works Pike Lake, 1 at ARC's offices, and the rest on the ground floor of the Duluth courthouse. We do not anticipate a change in the number of employees. Website Utilization We will be updating our websites like the rest of the County. We hope to increase our use of self service applications. We will be expanding our use of online recruitment videos, tailoring many for specific jobs.